IS CHEAPNESS SO CHEAP?
AN intelligent correspondent is scandalized at our breach of poli- tical economy in the matter of steam-boat cheapness; severely ;observing, that however spirited and talented our remarks were —and he is pleased to make obliging admissions on that score— .it was unworthy of the pages which he honmus with his constant ,wusal, and only "well enough for a lady's newspaper." What ,doesAhe ungallant rogue mean ? It may be true that ladies do not accept M'Culloch and Malthus as their sole and infallible lguides ; but we would have our judicious friend to know, that if .ever we consciously address our writing to female readers, we take especial pains to see that our common sense is in uncommon good order. No intellect is Reuter to spy out a niaiserie than that of a woman; men are but rude bunglers in "hitting the right nail on the head" compared to. the neat-handed Phillises. We deprecate not the assault on us, but why drag lovely woman into the quarrel? AN intelligent correspondent is scandalized at our breach of poli- tical economy in the matter of steam-boat cheapness; severely ;observing, that however spirited and talented our remarks were —and he is pleased to make obliging admissions on that score— .it was unworthy of the pages which he honmus with his constant ,wusal, and only "well enough for a lady's newspaper." What ,doesAhe ungallant rogue mean ? It may be true that ladies do not accept M'Culloch and Malthus as their sole and infallible lguides ; but we would have our judicious friend to know, that if .ever we consciously address our writing to female readers, we take especial pains to see that our common sense is in uncommon good order. No intellect is Reuter to spy out a niaiserie than that of a woman; men are but rude bunglers in "hitting the right nail on the head" compared to. the neat-handed Phillises. We deprecate not the assault on us, but why drag lovely woman into the quarrel? Our worthy reader enters into an imaginary estimate of steam- boat income and expenditure, in order to show that, in the aggre_ . gate, even the halfpenny fares perhaps allow suffieient margin for ' verification "; and he. observes that, according to our sweeping .condemnation of very low prices, "if I enter. a respectable shop and buy a box of matches for a halfpenny, I have no right ta .complain if half are bad." None in the world : and what is-more, if you do set about obtaining yoursupply of matches in that way, we suspect that you are very likely to be supplied with mutc.hes that crackle, sputter, fizzle, sparkle, flare, and go out., leaving you gazing at the scrap of burnt stick in a melancholy mood of seep- ticaldoubt as to the honesty of human nature— almost ready,"
as the ladies say, "to swear. "Matches," it is asserted, "are Anade in heaven "; but surely not these smoking, smelling, eye- smarting, damp, profitless blunt toothpicks? From their smell you may know that they are made in "another place."
Like matches like steam-boats : only that halfpenny boxes of -matches, which ought, won't explode; whereas the halfpenny boxes of men and women, which oughtn't, do. Our excellent acolder tries to prove • that steam-boats must, on commercial and -politico-economical principles, be safe for passengers in the aggre- gate: in like manner, lie might show that halfpenny matches suc- ceed in the aggregate; for it may happen that afterusing every ingenuity to extract a flame from a whole box in detail—you try- ing to circumvent the dulness of the explosive with spasmodic .starts to excite. its vivacity—the next box will go off in the lump, And supply you with flame enough to light a hundred tapers. at .-onceif you wished it; in default of which, the box wastemall its 'fire on your astonished hair and eyebrows.
We doubt the' truth of our correspondent's imaginary estimate,
With vast, profits and immense scope for verification in the aggre- ,gate returns. He confesses, to be sure, with the most explicit -candour, that lie knows nothing about such. matters ; which has at least the advantage of making him unprejudiced. But inmost cases of extreme cheapness, it will be found that the profits are
got out of minute savings on the expenditure. As in this case the expenditure accrues greatly on machinery and wages, it is a priori probable that the machinery will be defective and danger- ous, the servants of too low a class. Now, in point of fact, we do find that halfpenny boats explode, and that the "captains" are not persons sufficiently cultivated to be intrusted with the lives of living hundreds.
Besides, the very lowness of price entails its own incon- veniences. Anybody can spend a halfpenny ; and at the 'half- penny bait all classes, from the crossing-sweeper to the merchant who "looks after the pence," will scramble into the trap. Hence youhave on board a ship manned with cheap sailors, officered by cheap officers, that worst of all freights, a scrambling, rambling, mixed, unregulated crowd. The whole affair takes a low scale : the fare is low; the expendi- ture must be proportionately low ; the nautical intellect employed is low ; the company is low ; the moral sense of risk, of the value of human life, of the necessity for insurance, is low. It is all low together—except the high-pressure and the passenger who bestrides the flying boiler.
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